Hopper escapement



Sept. 8, 1970 E. L. BIVANS 3,527,367

HOPPER ESCAPEMENT Filed Oct. 17, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR 5455/87d. 5/l44/V5 I BY ,l I

Sept. 8, 1970 E. L. BIVANS HOPPER ESGAPEMENT 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct.17, 1968 'INVENTOR 545657 4. 5/l/AA/5 A rr'oz/ve s United States Patent3,527,367 HOPPER ESCAPEMENT Elbert L. Bivans, Glendale, Calif., assignorto Bivans Corporation, Los Angeles, Calif., a corporation of CaliforniaFiled Oct. 17, 1968, Ser. No. 768,331

Int. Cl. B65g 59/06 US. Cl. 214--8.5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSUREThe disclosure relates to an escapement device for controlling therelease of carton flats from a hopper in timed relation with theoperation of a vacuum pickup which removes the carton flats one at atime.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A hopper escapement unit is provided forinstallation on a cartoning machine for carton flats to release theflats one at a time in timed relation with the operation of a vacuumpickup. This unit is driven, for example, by shaft 156, FIG. 5 ofapplicants Pat. No. 3,373,665, Mar. 19, 1968, and the cartons arestacked in vertical position for gravity feed in a magazine as shown inthe patent. The escapement unit operates in timed relation with thepatented machine and controls the release of a few vertical cartonflats, the foremost of which is picked off by the vacuum cup whilerestraining the remainder of the carton flats in fixed position in themagazine. The unit includes a diflerential lever mechanism for operatinga clamp device to engage one side of a few of the vertical flats to urgethem against the opposite side of the magazine to restrain the weight ofthe remainder of the flats rearwardly of those restrained whilewithdrawing a stop finger to release a few flats in front of thoserestrained for withdrawal of the front flat by the vacuum cup againstthe action of a flexible finger. The clamping action provides a sturdyabutment for the vacuum cup device which picks off the front carton flatfree from interference with the weight of the bulk of the carton flats.In the alternate position, the clamp device is released and a stopfinger extends in front of the foremost flat to support the weight ofthe entire stack. A cam device is operated by the abovementioned shaftfor moving the stop finger out of position and moving the clamp deviceinto position at one time, while performing the reverse operations atanother time. The cam device is in the form of a symmetrical cam.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a top plan viewof the hopper escapement.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view on line 22 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view on line 3--3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 showing the mechanism in an alternateposition.

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic View of the drive means.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring in detail to the drawings, the driveshaft 1 in FIGS. 1 and 5 corresponds to shaft 156 in FIG. 6 ofapplicants patent referred to above. Sprocket 2, chain 3, fingers 4, andvacuum cup 5 find their counterpart in FIG. 6 of the patent. Theescapement device is generally indicated at 7 in FIG. 1 and is mountedon adjustable side panel or wall 8 of the magazine 9 which is similar tothe carton magazine in the patent.

The drive for escapement device 7 is taken from shaft 1, see FIG. 5,this shaft having a sprocket 10, chain 11 for a driven sprocket 12 on ashort shaft 13 carried by 3,527,367 Patented Sept. 8, 1970 bearingblocks 14 and 15 mounted on the upright conveyor frame indicated at 16.Shaft 13 is coupled by a universal joint 17 to a telescoping shaft 18connected by universal 19 to shaft 20 having a bearing 21. Shaft 20extends above bearing 21 and has mounted thereon a symmetricalelliptical cam 22 connected by friction engagement for ready adjustmentof the angular position of the cam. Cam 22 has two opposite lobes 23 and24, FIG. 4, in order to operate the escapement 7 twice per itsrevolution or once each time that the vacuum cup device 5 picks up acarton flat from the magazine.

The escapement device 7 includes a vertical base member 25 on which thebearing 21 is mounted. This base member also carries two upright rods 26and 27 acting as axles or pivot pins, respectively, for an arm 28 on theouter end of which is mounted stop fingers 29, the other pin 27 havingpivotally mounted thereon the bell crank 30 secured to one side by bolt31 on an arm 32 terminating at its outer end in a plurality of clampdevices 33, each having a rough face as shown at 34 to engage the edgesof the upright cartons as shown in FIG. 4.

The pin 27 in being located at one side of the panel 8 results inmovement of the clamp device 33 in a direction slightly rearwardly ofthe magazine, to remove the pressure of the stack of flats, which mayhave as many as 200 flats, from the other flats in front of it. Theclamped flats act as an abutment to counteract the pressure of vacuumcup device 5 when it presses against the foremost cartons to pick offthe front one.

FIG. 4 shows the clamp device 33 in an operative position wherein twoflats 35 and 36 are unrestrained by the device 33, being held inposition only by one or more stop pins 37 at one side of the magazineand by a flexible spring 38 at the other side, whereby the front flats35 and 36 are in condition so that the front one can be picked off bythe vacuum cup device 5.

Bell crank 30 has mounted thereon a cam follower roller 39 which isacted on by lobe 24 to swing the clamping device 33 to the positionshown in FIG. 4.

Tension spring 40 has one end 41 thereof mounted on the roller shaft 42,and the other end 43 thereof mounted on the pin 26.

In FIG. 4, the clamp device 33 is active and the stop device 29 isinactive. These items are moved to their respective alternate positionswhen cam 23 moves onequarter turn as shown in FIG. 3, wherein the stopdevice 29 is active, being in front of the foremost flat in the magazineto support the entire load of flats, clamp device 33 being withdrawnthrough slot 44 out of the path of the flats. At this time, cam roller45 mounted on bell crank 30 bears against projection 46 of arm 28, underaction of compression spring 47. At this time, the bell crank 30 swingsin a clockwise direction, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, roller 39 movinginwardly to a low spot on cam 22 whereby the spring 40 in urging bellcrank 30 clockwise, causes roller 45 to engage projection 46 and swingstop 29 to active position as shown in FIG. 3 against the action ofspring 47.

FIG. 2 shows three stop fingers, all indicated at 29, also showing fiveclamp devices marked 33.

The panel 8 is adjustable, as explained in the patent, in order toaccommodate carton flats of different widths, and the drive, includingthe universals 17 and 19, as shown in FIG. 5, permit this lateraladjustment.

1 claim:

1. A hopper escapement device for a stack of vertical articles in ahopper, a stop device at the exit of the hopper, means supporting saidstop device for movement either to a position in front of the foremostarticle or to a position out of the path of the articles, a springdevice located rearwardly of said stop device in position toimpositively restrain the articles while permitting their withdrawal oneat a time, a clamp device located rearwardly of said spring device, saidclamp device having means supporting the same for movement either to aposition to clamp one edge of the articles against the opposite side ofthe hopper or to another position out of the path of the articles, andmeans for operating said stop device and said clamping device inopposite senses, one being active while the other is inactive.

2. A hopper escapement device according to claim 1, said articles beingcarton flats, said hopper being arranged on a slant for gravity feed ofthe carton flats, a vacuum cup device, and means for operating saidvacuum cup device, said stop device and said clamp device in timedrelation for withdrawal of the carton flats one at a time by said vacuumcup device.

3. A hopper escapement device for carton flats arranged in a stack in ahopper, said hopper having an impositive restraining device adjacent thehopper exit for temporarily restraining escape of the carton flats whilepermitting their withdrawal under action of a vacuum cup device, theimprovement comprising clamping means adjacent the exit of the hopperfor clamping certain of the carton flats to form an abutment for theweight of the carton flats aft of the clamping device to the exclusionof a few carton flats between the clamping device and said impositivemeans, and means for operating said clamping device and said vacuum cupdevice in timed relation with each other, in combination with a stopdevice in front of said impositive restraining device, said stop deviceincluding means supporting the same for movement to a position in frontof the foremost carton in the hopper and means for alternately movingsaid clamping means and said stop means into active position whereineither the major portion of or all of the carton flats are restrainedfrom movement along the hopper.

4. A hopper escapement device for carton flats arranged in a stack in ahopper, said hopper having an impositive restraining device adjacent thehopper exit for temporarily restraining escape of the carton flats whilepermitting their withdrawal under action of a vacuum cup device, theimprovement comprising clamping means adjacent the exit of the hopperfor clamping certain of the carton flats to form an abutment for theweight of the carton flats aft of the clamping device to the exclusionof a few carton flats between the clamping device and said impositivemeans, and means for operating said clamping device and said vacuum cupdevice in timed relations with each other, in combination with a stopdevice in front of said impositive restraining device, said stop deviceincluding means supporting the same for movement to a position in frontof the foremost carton in the hopper and means for alternately movingsaid clamping means and said stop means into active position whereineither the major portion of or all of the carton flats are restrainedfrom movement along the hopper, said alternately moving means comprisinga symmetrical elliptical cam and differential levers controlled thereby,one of said levers supporting said clamping means and another of saidlevers supporting said stop device.

5. A hopper escapement device for carton flats arranged in a stack in ahopper, said hopper having an exit and a vacuum cup device for removingone carton flat at a time, means adjacent said exit for restraining afew of the carton flats to form an abutment to restrain the weight ofthe remainder of the flats rearwardly of those restrained, withoutrestraining one or more flats in front of those restrained forwithdrawal of the front flat by said vacuum cup device, and means foroperating said vacuum cup device and said restraining means in timedrelation with each other, said hopper having an adjustable panel toaccommodate carton flats of diflerent widths, said escape- .ment devicebeing in the form of a unit mounted on said References Cited UNITEDSTATES PATENTS 3,283,955 11/1966 Crabtree 2221-298 X 3,456,816 7/1969Galloway.

GERALD M. FORLENZA, Primary Examiner G. F. ABRAHAM, Assistant ExaminerUS. Cl. X.R.

